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U.S. Spanish book sales climb

Midvale, UT, USA — Publishing is evolving and crossing borders like never before, as is children’s literature. Amazon.com’s recent entry into Spain and the explosion of Spanish-language ebook platforms are indicators of the next big publishing market.

Sales of Spanish language books in the United States demonstrate significant demand–including for children’s literature in Spanish. Bilingual author Karl Beckstrand has seen demand grow for his Spanish-language and bilingual picture books and e-books. Beckstrand has had three titles on Amazon’s “Hot New Releases” in Spanish list. His Spanish titles outsell the English versions, though most of his titles come with an English/Spanish pronunciation guide. Positive national reviews by the Horn Book blog and ForeWord Reviews don’t hurt either.

Customers are not all likely to be to Spanish-speakers. It may be that individuals, schools, and families agree with Amazon: an additional language is a good idea. Considering that native Spanish speakers are more common than native English speakers worldwide (the only other native language more common than Spanish is Mandarin, according to Time and Wikipedia), Amazon’s lead should be followed. Beckstrand’s picture books may be a good start.